On June 26th a seminar will be held in Tripoli by the Knowledge Transfer Centre of Al Fayhaa with the objective of disseminating the concept of strategic city planning among the cities of the Middle East.

This dissemination seminar focuses on two issues: on one hand on presenting and promoting the concept of urban sustainable development strategies as a means for promoting integral city planning, participation and good governance. On the other hand, it focuses on specific issues related to the implementation of the UDS such as the creation of local development offices for coordinating the execution of the UDS and the elaboration of a system of indicators and adequate monitoring procedures.

In order to achieve these objectives, the methodology used by USUDS project will be presented in the seminar together with the experiences of implementing it and elaborating two UDS in the region, in the cities of Larnaca and Saida. Other experiences of elaboration of UDS in the Middle East will also be presented. A specific session will be organised on the methodological tools that USUDS and MedCities offer for the Middle Eastern cities interested in elaborating urban development strategies in the future. These tools are related to the role of KTC Al Fayhaa as a territorial antenna of the MedCities network and to the online platform of www.medcities.org as a means for promoting exchange and methodological advances. Also, a round table will be organised on how to implement city strategies, with the presentation of the future Local Development Office of Al Fayhaa and experiences designing monitoring structures.

The seminar is addressed to municipal representatives from Middle Eastern countries as well as Eastern Mediterranean countries.

More information on the programme of the seminar will be uploaded in www.medcities.org in the following weeks.